[tempo] staccato

We touched down at Washington National yesterday afternoon, after having spent the past week visiting my sister and her family den in North Carolina. It was Auggie's first airplane ride. I've got to be sure to write these things down somewhere so I remember them for the baby book. 

Anyway, it was a short trip from Raleigh/Durham. 45 minutes of air time, to be exact. Too short for any major meltdowns but my boy was brilliant, none the less. It definitely helped that check-in was smooth and I got to cut every line, owing to the fact I had a newborn.  You know, provided that your kid isn't either wailing or old enough to be toddling away from you as you juggle luggage, traveling with a child actually has some major perks.

I also need to take a moment to send some real positive energy out into the universe to the guy who held August while I put my shoes back on after getting through security. He was young and traveling alone but had the insight to notice me there, in an obvious quandary as I stared hopelessly at my shoes: The agent on the other side of the metal detector had taken them off for me. Too bad she didn't come through the other side to help me get them back on. The task was clearly going to be a challenge with a baby in one arm and a disobedient carry-on that kept slipping off my shoulder, on the other. I hesitated at first when he offered the help; my mind considering all the possible scenarios of handing your child to a stranger. Chalk it up to new mom paranoia. Seriously though, what was he gonna do? Take off sprinting down the gate with TSA on his heals and me yelling "Somebody stop him! He's got my baby!" I later learned he has no kids himself, which was a bit of a surprise since he had not only made such a thoughtful gesture, but because he looked so natural holding a baby. People like that make you feel all warm and cozy about humanity. This is why I happily brought a new life into the world - so he could be a part of its beauty.

So today was spent unpacking, doing countless loads of laundry, catching up on emails, paying bills, and restocking the fridge... all the every-day sort of stuff that gets put on hold when you take vacation. We lost the rhythm of our day being gone all that time. Today was about finding it again. Despite having a "To do" list, though,  my mind was scattered all over the place; detached, disconnected, staccato.  I couldn't seem to stay focused on one task all the way through. Why does vacation always leave you just as frazzled if not more so than you were before the escape? I need a vacation to recover from vacation.

I tried several times throughout the day to sit down and write, but got nothing. I have a backlog of ideas and all, but felt like Holden Caufield and kept finding myself thinking, I’m not in the mood right now - you have to be in the mood for those things. Then in the middle of the night, during Auggie's last "dream feed", it all flowed back. It was as if his rhythmic suckling reset the cadence of our life.